With admiration to your work and historical commitment with struggles for justice, freedom and equality, we ask you to cancel your concert in Tel Aviv, scheduled for July 28. July will mark the one year anniversary of the Israeli attacks against Gaza during which Israel killed more than 2,000 Palestinians, including over 500 children. More than 100,000 remain homeless due to these attacks.

Performing in Israel serves as a stamp of approval for Israel’s illegal racist, colonial and apartheid policies. The Israeli government portrays concerts in Israel as a sign of support for its policies. Israel systematically violates international law: it prevents Palestinian refugees from returning to their homes, it colonises and occupies the West Bank and Gaza, and it systematically discriminates against Palestinian citizens of Israel. And it’s not just Palestinians that face Israeli oppression: thousands of Ethiopian migrants were recently brutally repressed for protesting against racism in Israel.

The South African Nobel Prize winner, archbishop Desmond Tutu, who is an important supporter of the Palestinian call for boycott, has explained that performing in Tel Aviv is wrong, “just as we said during apartheid that it was inappropriate for international artists to perform in South Africa in a society founded on discriminatory laws and racial exclusivity”. Performing in Israel today is the equivalent of performing in Sun City South Africa during the apartheid era.

Do not ignore this call. Supporting apartheid isn’t the Tropicalia way!